Has your opinion of Obsidian changed after Avellone’s revelations and Deadfire?

[Invictus]

I'm a simple man. I see poor interface or wonky controls, I uninstall.

So by that rationale then Gothic & Ultima must surely suck...

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

I'm a simple man. I see poor interface or wonky controls, I uninstall.

So by that rationale then Gothic & Ultima must surely suck...

Are you claiming they don't?

 

[SausageInYourFace]

I never had much attachement to Obsidian at all.

I liked Kotor2 but not as much as Kotor1.

I never played any NWN because the first game was such a borefest that I didn't feel like touching anything in that engine ever again.
I never played Alpha Protocol because action game.
I never played much New Vegas because action game.
I never played Dungeon Siege 3 because action game.
I never played South Park because I don't like the setting. Maybe one day.
I really liked PoE.

I have mixed feelings about Tranny.
I haven't played PoE2 yet.

So I am not sure my opinion changed because I don't have much of an opinion to begin with, mostly I don't care. I like most of the devs though, St. Tim and St. MCA and also Joshs a cutie.

 

[jaydee2k]

No MCA is a fag

 

[Lurker47]

I liked Kotor2 but not as much as Kotor1.

I will never understand this.

 

[Roguey]

Don't give people excuses, I'm pretty sure most of them are trying to play it with the default over the shoulder view. Let them try the strategy cam.

Obs deserves flack for continuing to make levels unsuited for the camera they had once it became apparent that they couldn't make it do what they wanted. A design principle that should be held by all competent devs is that if you can't get a tool to work the way you want it to, you should reconfigure your ideas to work with what you have rather than what you want to have.

 

[Roguey]

I will never understand this.

The first Knights of the Old Republic tells a more coherent story, has a few more slightly more demanding battles, and fewer excessively annoying combat sections.

 

[Lurker47]

fewer excessively annoying combat sections.

This is the only one I really disagree with. The Star Forge felt like a zerg rush or something.

 

[Roguey]

This is the only one I really disagree with. The Star Forge felt like a zerg rush or something.

I agree, but it's typical endgame annoyance and you can plow your way through to the exit instead of just standing in place and killing them all until the respawns stop. It's not like the solo gauntlets of Nar Shaddaa.

 

[Lacrymas]

What's incoherent about KotOR2's story?

 

[Roguey]

What's incoherent about KotOR2's story?

The entire endgame is a mess of dropped subplots, fixed only by a fan patch released five years later.

 

[ItsChon]

The entire endgame is a mess of dropped subplots, fixed only by a fan patch released five years later.

When people talk about KotOR 2, they're talking about the game with the fan patch.

 

[Roguey]

When people talk about KotOR 2, they're talking about the game with the fan patch.

That isn't the game Chris Avellone and Obsidian shipped, particularly since some of the content they "restored" was cut for being too low-quality (e,g, the droid planet where you have to fight off wave after wave of robots with just HK-47) and wouldn't have been restored in the manner they did.

 

[Lacrymas]

I wouldn't say the story is incoherent due to the dropped subplots, leaving fan patch aside. The most important story was told, and it was very good. The ending has always rubbed me the wrong way, though, it's a hollow 'victory' that leaves the universe doomed in its own existential crisis. While that's fine, the ending talk left a lot to be desired for me, very unsatisfying and even trivial.

 

[Roguey]

I wouldn't say the story is incoherent due to the dropped subplots, leaving fan patch aside. The most important story was told, and it was very good. The ending has always rubbed me the wrong way, though, it's a hollow 'victory' that leaves the universe doomed in its own existential crisis. And the ending talk left a lot to be desired for me.

The endgame/ending made so many kotor fans mad on the Obsidian forums that Feargus considered shutting them down.

 

[Lacrymas]

The Obsidian forums should've been burned to the ground at conception, soooo.

 

[Morality Games]

Avellone's probably right about them, but the problem is that is broadly reflective of the entertainment industry, video games in particular, and really everything. The reason why EA has a graveyard full of studios is because the Feargus Urquhart's (out of touch, morally misguided, and self centered managerial types) of the world are primally ascendant. They're the only people who feel entitled or motivated enough to climb to the top and take charge of things. In the long run this results in entropy, decay, and failure.

Problem is, left to their own devices artists will do the same thing -- you see in in bands all the time, always breaking up due differences of personality, artistic vision, ideals, and other "flaky" reasons.

Beneath all of the economic and political systems of the world, human beings are essentially an overlapping, flux state anarchy of the strong climbing over the weak.

Why bother being mad at Obsidian when they're doing the same thing everyone else is doing?

 

[Safav Hamon]

Even with the fan patch KotOR II feels incomplete and unsatisfying. It needed another year of development time.

 

[Lacrymas]

KotOR2 is one of the best games ever made, so it is satisfying in a variety of ways. It just suffers from technical issues that are easily ignored, especially with the fan patch.

 

[jungl]

no I could give shit about whos who work life drama. I grew up playing games for fun unlike spergs who watch their favorite e celeb play for them. I been to conventions before and I could give a craps ass meeting a developer or voice actor. Its just another fag that lives in a flat somewhere like the rest of us.

 

[Safav Hamon]

Lacrymas What about it do you find satisfying? I thought the combat was lame. The level design was lame. Many of the worlds were boring. The story and characters might of been good if they weren't half-finished.

Not trying to sound like a hater, but I don't understand why some people uphold KotOR II as a masterpiece. Is it just Chris Avellone fandom?

 

[Darth Canoli]

I think most of the Codexers had this view that Obsidian was one of the last hopes for truly great writing and good RPGs, after all they did make KOTOR 2, Mask of the Betrayer, Southpark and Fallout New Vegas...

But given the last couple of years, with the very controversial release of Pillars of Eternity, the poor reception and sales of their most recent games like Tyranny and Deadfire and the frankly disgusting way that they have treated some of their best writers and project leads, like the well document case of Chris Avellone, and their less than stellar track record with publishers, I must say that I went from rooting for Obsidian to actually disliking the company quite a bit

As much as I wish the Tim Cain secret project to come out I actually don’t want it to succeed; Fergus is a piece of shit and most of his partners and croonies are really just as bad too.

Honestly I cannot still get over the whole deal of agreeing to design decisions one day and then pulling the “well, that is not the way I feel about it today” bullshit... that is NOT now you run even a fucking lemonade stand let alone a company

So, just wanted to check if I am the only one feeling like this or if I am a butthurt combatfag who is being dramatic... but honestly that is the way I feel

Didn't play New Vegas, i mean i tried it, stopped after the very first small building and killing a couple of zombies or whatever that was, was years ago, this game doesn't exist, that piece of garbage killed the possibility of having a real turn-based fallout 3.

Didn't play South Park, i don't like the settings.

POE isn't bad, better than BG, less drama and i like the cyphers.
I can't play POE 2 because of the arena loading bug, not sure if they fixed it, wasn't very interesting anyway and i've heard naval battles are a nuisance.

As fot KotOR 2, well, where's the originality, it's the second of the series, what did they add exactly ?

Tyranny is good, though, except for the late game battles (too many of them) and the loading time.

Well, along the years, i learned that a company's name means nothing, the people running it and the ones working their asses off do so if obsidian died, the best of the bunch would land on their feet and move on so who cares ?

Haven't played KotOR 2 yet so I can't comment and Neverwinter Nights 2 had such a fucked camera, that I never finished the game or played MotB. What other games have they done that are supposed to be good? South Park, FO:NV? DS3? All garbage. I never got the Obsidian hype in the first place.

A shame, it's probably too late to play KotOR 2, i'm not sure it aged well.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

KOTOR2 without restoration patches makes about as much sense as alcohol-free beer.

 

[ItsChon]

A shame, it's probably too late to play KotOR 2, i'm not sure it aged well.

I'm playing it rn, seems fine. I played KotOR like a year or two ago and I really enjoyed it, so I'm not worried.

 

[Lyric Suite]

I lost faith with PoE. Obsidian for me was all about potential held back by constrains of a relative kind. The need to make money, lack of time or funding and so forth. Every time they sunk into mediocrity (NWN2 main campaign) they showed that the talent was still there (Mask of the Betrayer) etc.

PoE was supposed to circumvent all that. No need to dumb things down for sales. No need to meet modern expectations, like third or first person view, super advanced graphics, fully voiced dialog, or an inflexible deadline. This was their chance to let their talent and potential flow unimpeded by everything we always assumed held them back. And they blew it.